Winner: “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson: “an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart.”

Finalists: “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank,” by Nathan Englander and “The Snow Child,” by Eowyn Ivey.

And… here they are! The full list of 2013 Colorado Book Awards finalists.

“This year’s selectors read and discussed over 170 entries to select these authors and their works for the Colorado Book Awards finalist level,” said Christine Goff, Colorado Center for the Book Program Coordinator in a press release issued Monday. “The level of talent in Colorado is astonishing.”

The winners will be announced on Friday, June 21 at the Aspen Summer Words Literary Festival in Aspen.

“A Higher Call” came out in January. It recounts an extraordinary act of compassion in the air war over Europe: A German fighter pilot named Franz Stigler opted not to finish off a crippled American B-17 bomber piloted by a young West Virginian named Charlie Brown, instead escorting it to the English Channel and safety. It was a New York Times bestseller.

I first read it during a summer break between 11th and 12th grade, and again a decade ago. Many of its particulars have faded into the hazy recesses of my memory, but one quotation from the book remains crystal clear. I think of it almost every day, when I read the news, or watch a friend struggle, or wonder about the meaning of things.

It’s a hybrid memoir/biography, combining elements of the author’s own family story and anecdotes from the life of legendary designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who was known for her Salvador Dali-esque designs, and who is also credited with creating the color ‘shocking pink.’

Page 7:Stretching a smile, my mother paints her lips back on. She mashes them together then blots them on a folded tissue: FRRRIIIIP!
She reapplies the “Sky Blue Pink,” blotting one last time.
“If you blot twice,” she instructs, “you can eat a frankfurter and your lipstick still won’t come off.”

Page 31I remember, when I was so small I could hardly read, seeing a drawing … of two men bathing on a solitary beach. They started to talk, got along splendidly, and after sunning themselves for a long time went behind different rocks to dress. One came out all smartness with a dangling lorgnette and a silver stick; the other in rags. Stupefied, they looked at each other, and with a cold nod each turned and went his separate way. They had nothing more to say to each other. – Elsa Schiaparelli